Now We're Back to the Beginning
by Yotsubadancesintherain5
Summary: All around them the world changes. At the core of it all they live life to the fullest together. Part 20 and finale of the Yotsuba & Frisk series.


The sun had already set. Yotsuba rubbed angrily at the tears that fell down her cheeks as she walked down the stairs. She hiccupped and hated her ragged breath, her stride causing her bag to bounce against her.

Ichiro broke up with her.

She headed into the train station and bought a ticket home. She stalked her way up to the platform. As she waited Yotsuba dug out her sketchbook from her bag and flipped through it, finding the page she wanted. The picture was a charcoal drawing of Ichiro standing near a convenience store, a nice cream in his hand.

Yotsuba ripped it out and crumpled up the drawing. She childishly tossed it to the ground when the train rolled in.

She took three steps before going back and throwing the paper ball into the trash can that was labeled "paper only".

When she was on the train she faced away from the other passengers. She hurried through the motions at her stop. At the top of the stairs there was a cat Monster and an alligator Monster that set up a table and tried to sell Yotsuba garbage. They took pity on her red cheeks and puffy eyes and gave her a mostly clean tissue packet and told her to "Totally keep your chin up," "Yeah, totally!" when she gave a vague answer as to why she was crying.

Yotsuba used the majority of the tissues to mop up her face, and felt slightly better when she did so. When she had finished she shoved the tissues into the packet and tossed it into a nearby trash bin. She used the hand sanitizer that hung from her bag, thinking that Fuuka had been right about putting useful things on bags.

As Yotsuba walked near her house she saw Frisk leaning against the wall, under a streetlight. They were wearing a crisp white shirt and suspenders, leftover from ambassador business. They were eating something.

"Frisk?" Yotsuba asked when she got close.

They saw her and grinned, offering the candy in their palm. It was sugar candy, but Yotsuba shook her head anyway.

"No thank you, Frisk."

Frisk shrugged and ate the rest of it, crunching loudly. They caught sight of Yotsuba's red cheeks and puffy eyes, though her head was down, and they signed, "What's wrong?"

Yotsuba didn't respond, so they clapped lightly and signed it again when she looked up.

Yotsuba rubbed at her eyes. "Frisk, Ichiro broke up with me."

Frisk raised their hand to their mouth.

"I… I knew that it wasn't going good," Yotsuba said, her voice becoming shaky. "I should have known when he pried about our families at your birthday. I should have said more, but I held back and I don't even know why."

She kicked at the ground. "He said that he 'wasn't weird' when I explained who our parents are. It made me feel…" Like bugs were crawling along her skin, or her stomach twisting like a whirlpool. "I don't even know. I should have done more."

Frisk nodded. "I don't blame you for being angry," they signed. "I know what it's like to hold it in."

There was something unreadable in their expression that made Yotsuba pause. She thought about the nightmares of vines and bullets, whispers of the underground; the family altar that was standing there for as long as she could remember.

She felt very petty.

"I'm sorry," Yotsuba mumbled.

Frisk shook their headed signed, "Tell me."

"I don't know what's going to happen now," Yotsuba admitted. "And I'm scared, Frisk."

"Undyne can be your bodyguard," Frisk signed.

"It's okay," Yotsuba replied. She managed a grin at the joke.

Frisk's face became serious again. "It's going to be difficult, but you have the support of Monsters. And you've got everyone else. We'll all support you."

Yotsuba felt her eyes burn with tears again. Frisk silently walked up to her and hugged her. They rested their chin on the top of her head. Yotsuba breathed and closed her eyes, resting her forehead against their collarbone.

When they drew away she said, "Let's go buy instant ramen."

As they picked out ramen at the convenience store Frisk admitted that, "Nobody really seemed to like him. Monster Kid referred to him as 'Fish Guy' because we heard him complain about the fish at my birthday party." They balanced a spicy ramen cup and chicken ramen cup, putting it in the basket.

"That was weird," Yotsuba said. She did an imitation of his voice.

Frisk shook their head. "His voice was lower," they signed.

"Um, I don't like _fish_-" Yotsuba's voice cracked at the end of it and she coughed. When she opened her eyes she saw Frisk put a hand over their mouth, their shoulders shaking and clapping their free hand against their leg.

Yotsuba blinked. She had never seen Frisk laugh, not even when they were children. But the phenomenon was contagious and when she finally managed to speak Yotsuba said, "Let me try again."

"No, no," Frisk signed. "You might hurt your throat."

"Ah, I guess that's true."

They ended up buying four ramen cups and two bags of sugar candy. If anybody would ask Yotsuba would reply that it was okay just this once.

They watched a movie at Yotsuba's house as they ate the instant ramen together. Yotsuba still yelled out, "Watch out, sis," at the lady, through a mouthful of noodles. They were halfway finished with their sugar candy when the movie ended and Frisk decided to go home as it was late.

They helped Yotsuba clean up the garbage and she walked them to the door, watching as they put on their shoes. Before Frisk left they pressed a kiss to her forehead and signed, "You'll be okay," before leaving.

When she woke up the next day and finished eating breakfast Yotsuba got her sketchbook and pencil out. She replaced the drawing that she had crumpled up and thrown away with a drawing of Frisk laughing.

**A/N: Originally posted on AO3 on May 30 2017**

**Thank you for reading this series.**


End file.
